Niamh Bailey was the star performer for Kettering as the Harriers bagged over 20 gold medals in the two-day Northamptonshire County Track and Field Championships.
Conditions were rarely easy over a breezy weekend at Corby and most of the times in the sprints were fairly modest, but Niamh proved the exception with a superb run in the Under 17 300m, when she clocked a huge personal best of 41.6, taking her into the top 20 in the national rankings. To this she added victories in the 100m, 200m, Shot Put and Javelin.
Also taking home multiple medals was Daisy Gilbert, who won the Under 15 High Jump with 1.40m and Shot with 7.66m. Sister Annie took the Under 13 Discus and Holly Tomlin won the Under 13 High Jump, clearing 1.20m, whilst Kettering’s other winner in the field was Adam Henley in Veteran Men’s Discus.
Amongst some fine performances on the track was an excellent victory for Bradley Fox in the Under 17 100m, who equalled his PB of 11.9 when defeating Jasper Larken (Milton Keynes) who had beaten him at the Kettering Open Meeting.
Yannick Phippen was a commanding winner of the Under 20 100m (11.3) on Sunday, making up for a narrow defeat to Milton Keynes’ Ben Sturgess in the 200m the previous day.
Jamie Dean ran a season’s best 16.9 in winning the Under 20 110m Hurdles and there was a PB for Ethan Mehmet in the Under 13 200m (29.8) as he took gold with ease.
Although beaten by Corby Veteran Karen Harewood, Gemma Elliott won the Senior Ladies 400m for the fifth successive year, whilst Alex Keyworth took another big step forward in her return to form, winning the Under 20 400m in 60.6, her best time for two years.
Other success on the track came in the form of Imogen Stokes in the Under 20 5000m and in the walks, where Dannielle Gaskell won the Under 11 1k in a Championship Best Performance of 6.28.0. Daniel Waples won the Under 17 3k in a fast time, something that could not be said for Tabatha Walford and Rhiannon Cole who strolled round the Under 13 2k at a very gentle pace, and then cleverly manufactured a dead heat for first place!
As conditions improved towards the end of the meeting, there were some great performances by KTH athletes in the 1500m. Maisie Green’s superb finish took her to gold in the Under 15 Girls race in a new best of 5.02.2, reversing places with Corby’s Ellie Welch, who had narrowly beaten her in the 800m. In the equivalent Boys race, Josh Cara’s mature front running brought him a gold medal and a five second PB (4:40).
In the final race, Jonny Goringe led from the gun with Rugby & Northampton’s Rory Grant just behind him throughout the Senior 1500m, before winning by a small margin in an exciting finish. His time of 4.02.5 was a PB and he has now won county 1500m medals in six different age categories. He should also have received the Roy Johnson Memorial Trophy, which unfortunately has gone missing (any information as to its whereabouts would be welcome!).